


Anything That Fits

by Tasceri



Series: Extended Universe [10]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, Extended Universe, M/M, Post-DDD, Soft and Fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 10:16:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14746928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tasceri/pseuds/Tasceri
Summary: Riku takes Vanitas shopping, with surprisingly little property damage. Best read after Small Steps.





	Anything That Fits

Vanitas craned his neck to examine the eclectic mix of clothes filling the thrift store and said, incredulously, " _Anything_?"  
  
Riku tested the weight of his coin purse in his pocket: more than enough to buy a few outfits for Van that weren't things Sora had outgrown. "Yeah, anything that fits."  
  
Vanitas gave him a distrustful look, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. Riku offered an encouraging gesture in return, at least one he hoped was encouraging. He still wasn't used to this role of emotional support, and he frequently found himself wishing that encouragement and positivity came even half as easily to him as they did to Sora.  
  
Vanitas stepped towards the shelves filled with bric-a-brac lining the store's lefthand wall. His eyes swept over the mostly-complete dinner sets and wine glasses and astonishingly ugly ceramic dogs. He reached out, curiously, and plucked up a china doll.  
  
"Do you want-" Riku started to ask, then immediately internally kicked himself because he didn't even have half the question out before Vanitas deliberately dropped the doll on the floor. Its head smashed loudly, alerting the concern of the attendant. "I'll pay for that!" Riku called out, embarrassment flushing his cheeks. "Sorry!" He hoped the doll hadn't been too pricey. He crouched to pick up the biggest shards, but Vanitas was already moving on, his expression strangely solemn as his fingertips brushed against an empty picture frame.  
  
"We're here for clothes," Riku said hastily, pulling Vanitas away from the breakables. He shot the storekeeper an apologetic look as she came over with a dustpan and brush. "I'm sorry," he repeated, trying to look as if he wasn't straining to keep Vanitas' arms at his sides. "Just, clumsy. You know."  
  
She gave him a look that suggested she knew exactly what it was, and that clumsiness had nothing to do with the mess she was clearing up.  
  
"It's getting colder in Radiant Garden, so you could use a warmer jacket," Riku said, leading his companion away to the furthest aisle away from anything breakable. Sora's old clothes had been fine in the summer months, but since the coldest it ever got in Destiny Islands was balmy compared to Radiant Garden now, he didn't have much in the way of warm garments to offer Vanitas. Riku gestured to the rack of jackets and sweaters: "Why don't you take a look through these and see if there's something you like?"  
  
Vanitas was quivering slightly, a restlessness Riku had come to recognise as anxiety. Whether that anxiety would curl into Unversed or abrupt violence was anyone's guess. He let his hand fall from Vanitas' arm - although he no longer seemed adverse to touch, at least Riku's, restraint did nothing but strain his nerves. But he still kept his hand close and his senses alert, ready to make a grab for the other boy if necessary.  
  
"Go on."  
  
Vanitas stepped forwards reluctantly. A watchful eye might have noticed movement in the shadows, but the lighting in the store was low enough that it could just be the imagination, besides, the people of Traverse Town were well used to monsters.  
  
Vanitas looked at the jackets for a few minutes without speaking. Glanced at Riku again, scowling. He was tense, his face screwed up, fingers twitching restlessly. Then he said sullenly, "I don't get what's wrong with Sora's clothes."  
  
"I just thought it would be nice for you to have something that's yours."  
  
"I already had clothes that were mine," said Vanitas in an accusatory tone, "You took them away from me."  
  
Not for the first time, Riku resisted the urge to remind Vanitas that his old suit had been so small for him that the seams had left cruel weeping sores in his skin, and that that was the least of their concerns when they had come to prise it off his broken body.  
  
"But this will be something you can choose for yourself," he said instead, hastily. Vanitas looked at him with violence in his eyes and said nothing. The lights in the store seemed to dim perceptibly, a menacing loom to the shadows. "You deserve it," Riku continued. "You've been making so much progress." It was true. There were still good days and bad days, but Vanitas' violent outbursts were lessening in both frequency and intensity, and the Unversed - while still omnipresent - had become almost docile, usually only attacking when provoked.  
  
Vanitas opened his mouth as if to snap back some defense, but the words didn't come out. He looked away, scowling. "I don't care," he insisted again. "It's just clothes. It doesn't matter." He stood there with his body angled away from Riku, fists clenched tightly.  
  
"Okay," Riku said, mostly to collect his own thoughts. Maybe it was still too soon.  He reached out to touch Vanitas' arm, making sure his hand was visible so he didn't startle him. "Okay, why don't I pick out some clothes and you can tell me if you like them or not."  
  
"It doesn't matter!" Vanitas snapped again, louder this time, alerting the concerned attention of the shopkeeper. Riku shot her yet another apologetic look. Maybe it was time to just pay for the broken doll and leave before Vanitas did something to actually get them thrown out.  
  
"That's fine. We can come back some other time." Riku eased his hand over Vanitas' back; he could feel how tense the boy's muscles were. He was sure he saw the gleam of a pair of red eyes beneath a rail of shirts. He made to lead Vanitas towards the counter, but his companion pulled away sharply, the air filling with the familiar tang of Darkness.  
  
"No! _No!_ " Vanitas was yelling now, monsters rapidly taking shape around him. "I don't! Want! _Things!_ " Before Riku could wrestle him away he lunched towards the nearest rack of clothes and wrenched it over with a force that belied his slight frame. It was only thanks to Riku's superior strength and fast reflexes that he was able to grab Vanitas' hand before the boy's Keyblade was more than a glimmer. He only had one pair of hands, however, and the Unversed were beginning to spawn in force.  
  
"Okay, okay, message received." He hauled Vanitas to the door, yelling yet another apology at the attendant as he shoved him out into the cooling air. The Unversed were fully fledged now, swarming protectively around their progenitor, their eyes glinting alarmingly in the dusky light. Riku hurried to one of Traverse Town's many quiet alleyways. "Come on, breathe. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. That's it." He reached out to hold Vanitas almost instinctively, cupping his hand around the scruffy hair at the back of the boy's head as Vanitas gulped in lungfuls of air, struggling to compose himself.  
  
It was still strange for Riku to touch another person so willingly. Not to want to - for too many years he had known that ache for intimacy whenever he was near Sora - but to actually reach out and feel the unfamiliar organic warmth of another person. But this broken boy had brought touch to him, probably because when Vanitas was too far gone to listen to words it was the only thing he registered.  
  
Eventually Vanitas began to relax, his breathing beginning to stabilise and the Unversed, while still present, doing little more than swaying in place. He rested his head against Riku's chest, curling a hand around his arm. Even when he was calm, his fingers were like claws digging into Riku's skin.  
  
Vanitas whispered, "He took everything away from me."  
  
"I know," said Riku, hoping that his words were of some comfort. "I know, and you don't have to trust us right away." He cautiously stroked Vanitas' back, keeping his movements slow. "You can keep wearing Sora's clothes for now. We can come back when you're ready."  
  
Not to this particular shop, probably, but hopefully even Vanitas wouldn't manage to get them banned from every thrift store in Traverse Town.  
  
Once just a few Unversed remained, Riku allowed himself to relinquish his hold on their progenitor.  
  
"Okay. You wait here, I just gotta go pay for that doll."  
  
"I don't want the doll," said Vanitas.  
  
"I know. You broke it. But you have to pay for things you break in a store."  
  
Vanitas' face screwed up into the usual expression of contempt he adopted whenever he was confronted by what he considered unnecessary social norms. Riku shrugged - he had long since given up trying to make Vanitas understand - and made his way back to the thrift store. Vanitas followed, keeping a few paces behind, acting like he didn't care what was going on.  
  
"Stay outside," Riku commanded once he arrived back at the thrift store, but Vanitas was inspecting some moss growing at the bottom of a drainpipe. Riku left him there, steeling himself for the inevitable disapproval of the shopkeeper for his companion's behaviour. No matter how much he'd been through or the challenges he'd faced, awkward social interactions never seemed to get easier for him.  
  
"Sorry about earlier," he began as he approached the till, rummaging in his pocket for his wallet, then rummaging in his other pocket for his wallet. The attendant looked suitably tired by this paltry attempt at an apology. "How much was the doll? I'll just, uh, pay for that and get out of your hair."  
  
"Your friend isn't coming back in, is he?"  
  
"No, he won't," promised Riku, hoping he was telling the truth. As much progress as he had made in the last few months, getting Vanitas to comply with… anything remained a challenge. He dropped a handful of munny on the counter for the doll and tried to stop his foot tapping restlessly as he waited for the change. He couldn't see Vanitas through the busy window displays, but surely there was a limited amount of trouble the boy could get into left unsupervised for such a short amount of time.  
  
After the transaction, which seemed to take an age, was finally complete, he apologised again and headed out into the cool evening air. Vanitas' hands were pressed against the shop window, staring as if trying to win a contest against the headless mannequins inside, his breath forming little puffs of condensation on the glass. He didn't seem to notice Riku, and barely acknowledged him when he coughed to alert Vanitas of his presence.  
  
"Time to head home."  
  
Vanitas did not move.  
  
"You want something?"  
  
Finally Riku earned a glance from his companion. Vanitas stared him down for a second as if Riku had said something vaguely offensive to him, then jabbed a finger at a mannequin, one wearing a plain button down shirt and a knee-length navy pleated skirt dotted with sequins.  
  
"That." He said in a tone that was commanding and petulant at once.  
  
Riku looked at the display in surprise. Finally, he managed to say, "The... skirt?“  
  
"Yes, the skirt." Vanitas put his hands back on the glass, staring at the skirt with the same intense frown. "I don't have a skirt. I want it." He looked at Riku again, who was aware that he was staring with his mouth slightly agape. Vanitas continued in an accusatory tone, "You said I could have anything."  
  
"Yeah, it's just that..." Riku trailed off. He thought, _but you're a boy and boys don't wear skirts_. But then he thought, _but I_ did _say he could choose anything_. He thought, _what happens if I tell him no? Isn't the whole point of this that he's the one who gets to pick what he wears from now on? Doesn't that matter more than whether or not he should wear a skirt?_  
  
He wasn't thinking fast enough, because Vanitas let out a yell of aggravation, punching the glass almost - but thankfully not quite - hard enough to crack. "Forget it!“ Riku's reflexes were fast enough that he had Vanitas' wrist in a tight grip before he could punch the window again. Vanitas pulled against him violently, letting out another screech.  
  
"No, it's fine! You can have the skirt. You can have it, it's fine. It's just that-" Riku rapidly thought of a new excuse for his hesitation- "It's just that if you're gonna go back in the shop you'll have to be on your best behaviour. No breaking things."  
  
Vanitas gave Riku a disappointed look, but there was visible relief in his expression. Just in case, Riku kept his hand on Vanitas' wrist as he guided him back into the store. He made to go straight for the window display, but Riku hauled him over to the till.  
  
"We have to ask her to take it off the mannequin for us."  
  
The shopkeeper was clearly none too thrilled about Vanitas being back in the thrift shop, but she gave in to Riku's desperately apologetic expression and complied with his request for the skirt on the grounds that Vanitas wasn't allowed to cause any more trouble. By the time she returned Vanitas was quivering again, his eyes fixed on the article in her hands. Riku accepted it graciously, offering yet more apologies before leading Vanitas over to the changing rooms.  
  
"Here's where you try it on." Riku had the feeling the skirt was going to be too wide for Vanitas' narrow frame, but he couldn't imagine taking in a skirt would be more complicated than any of the tent canvases or sails he had experience mending. He allowed Vanitas to snatch the skirt out of his hands and ushered him into the changing room. After a brief scuffle around the curtain, Vanitas turning out to have expected Riku to join him in the confined space, Riku found himself levering the layers of netting and shiny fabric over Sora's old pants. The sequins twinkled in the full-length mirror propped against the wall as Vanitas swished his hips experimentally back and forth.  
  
"Hold still. Let me ask if they've got any safety pins."  
  
The attendant complied with his request, now almost seeming amused by the antics of these two strange customers. By the time Riku had pinned up the excess material Vanitas had already picked off one of the sequins and was staring at it as if pondering whether it might be edible.  
  
"You look cute," said the shopkeeper. And Vanitas laughed, the harsh sound of it softer than usual.  
  
"I've never been cute before." He looked straight at Riku with that same intense expression, now mixed with a kind of expectant questioning. In his peripheral vision Riku could make out the glimmer of a pair golden eyes, belonging to quite a different breed of Unversed.  
  
"Yeah, it suits you," he agreed, not entirely saying so just to be polite. The silvery sequins nestled amongst the iridescent fabric reminded him of a starry night sky; he wondered if that was what had drawn Vanitas to it. "Okay, let's get it off so we can buy it." But Vanitas smacked his hand away.  
  
"Touch it and I'll crush your throat."  
  
Riku pinched the bridge of his nose. "Got it. But I still need to see the price tag."  
  
Vanitas turned back and forth in front of the mirror, clearly captivated by his appearance. "I don't see it."  
  
"It's probably on the inside. Here, let me- I'm not going to take it. I just need to get the tag." Riku managed to hold Vanitas still long enough to fumble around the waistband of the skirt for the label. Despite his threat, this just seemed to amuse him, especially when the price tag turned out to be a lot lower down than Riku was hoping.  
  
"Heh. Pervert."  
  
Finally Riku managed to flip the tag out. The skirt was one of the pricier articles in the shop, but thankfully still comfortably within Riku's budget. As mortified as he would have been, there was no way he was going to try to wrestle the thing away from Vanitas if he hadn't had enough to pay for it. He took Vanitas to the counter, where the shopkeeper was serving another customer. Riku hoped she wouldn't notice the serpentine monster slithering about under the rails of clothes. The golden-eyed Unversed, those born from Vanitas' positive emotions, were rarely destructive except by accident; but Riku imagined that being somewhat difficult to explain to the long-suffering attendant.  
  
Somehow he managed to complete the transaction without Vanitas causing any more property damage, and then they were returning to the evening air. Vanitas was already leaving a trail of sequins behind him. Riku wondered if there would even be any left by the time they got back to Radiant Garden.  
  
"That wasn't so bad," he announced, although admittedly the trip hadn't exactly gone to plan either. "You wanna grab some food before we head home? There's a pretty good noodle place near here."  
  
"Sure," said Vanitas, feigning ambivalence as if he didn't hungrily wolf down anything Riku put in front of him and quite a lot of things he didn't. For Vanitas, the line between "edible" and "non-edible" seemed to be... completely nonexistent. He finally let go of the skirt, which already looked decidedly more crumpled than it had been on the mannequin. As he reached up to absentmindedly scratch his jaw Riku noticed a brightly coloured bracelet on his wrist, one of the ones with big plastic beads threaded onto elastic.  
  
"Where did you get that?" he asked as if he didn't already know the answer. Vanitas glanced at the bracelet and back to Riku. "Vanitas, I keep telling you, you have to _pay_ for things in shops."  
  
"You _did_ pay."  
  
"For the skirt, yeah," Riku groaned. He looked back towards the thrift store, deciding that it probably wasn't worth the trouble to go back yet again for such a cheap trinket. He let out a sigh. "Never mind. I'll let it slide this time. Come on." He held out his hand to beckon Vanitas over; to his surprise the other boy grabbed his fingers, squeezing them tight as he pulled Riku across the street. Why was it that that one oblivious action was enough to make Riku blush?


End file.
